Electric switch



June 26, 1962 R. s. TILLS ON ELECTRIC SWITCH 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 4, 1959 /NV 'l\ /TOR. ROBERT S. TILLSON BY KM/7- Q -7 A TTORNE Y June'26,1962 R. s. TILLSON 3,041,432 I ELECTRIC SWITCH Filed Dec. 4, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 W INVENTOR. 23 ROBERT 5. TlLLsou 27.2 wflewjgiwy fl TTORNEY United States Patent M 3,041,432 ELECTRIC SWITCH Robert S. Tillson, Bristol, Conn, assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 4, 1959, Ser. No. 857,393 3 Claims. (Cl. 200-172) My invention relates to electric switches and particularly to electric switches of the type including a switch unit contained within a metallic box or enclosure having a cover and including manually operable means for operating the enclosed switch unit from outside the enclosure.

Enclosed electric switches of the type referred to are ordinarily utilized by mounting on a vertical wall surface, the incoming power lines entering the switch enclosure from the top wall thereof. The customary established practice in switches of this type, which include a manual operating member which moves reciprocally in a vertical fashion between an upper and lower position to move the switch between on and off positions, is to arrange the parts such that the upper position of the manual operating member corresponds to the on position of the switch, and the lower position of the operating member corresponds to the off condition of the switch.

In certain instances, the incoming power lines must be brought in from the bottom of the switch enclosure. If the switch is maintained in the same position, it is then necessary to bring the incoming line conductors through the length of the enclosure and to connect them with the line terminals of the switch adjacent the top wall of the enclosure, and likewise to bring the outgoing load c0nductors in at the top of the enclosure, through the length of the enclosure, to the bottom terminals of the switch. This adds considerably to the amount of effort and time required to install such a switch and, in addition, results in a large amount of wiring within the switch which occupies working space within the switch and also requires an extra amount of conductor. In large switches, the conductors are of substantial size, and this is a serious disadvantage.

If it were attempted to avoid this difficulty by inverting the switch to place the line terminals at the bottom and the load terminals at the top, the result would be to invert the operating position of the manual operating member so that the off position of the operating member would be in the upper position and the on position of the member would be in the lower position. This is not considered desirable, since it is not in accordance with traditional practice and might lead personnel to believe that the switch is on when it is actually off, and vice versa.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an electric switch of the type described which may be mounted in a first position on a vertical wall surface with the on position of the handle in an upper position and the off position of the handle in a lower position, and which includes means for easily modifying the operating mechanism so that the switch may be mounted in a 180 degrees reversed or inverted position and when so mounted the on" position of the handle will still be upwardly and the o position downwardly.

It is another object of the invention to provide an en closed switch including a switch unit having a contact rotor, and a vertically oscillatable handle, and mechanism mounted on a side wall of the enclosure, which mechanism may be readily modified to reverse direction of rotation of the rotor compared to the direction of rotation of the handle.

In accordance with the invention, an enclosed electric switch is provided including an electric switch unit contained within an enclosure and a manually operable vertically oscillatable handle supported on the enclosure and including a linkage for operating the switch unit. The

3,041,432 Patented June 26, 1962 manually operable member is pivotally supported on a side wall of the enclosure and connected by an eccentric linkage to the operating member of the switch unit. Means is also provided, according to the invention, for connecting the operating mechanism selectively in a desired one of two predetermined conditions with respect to the pivot of the manually operable member whereby the relationship of the manually operable member to the condition of the switch unit may be reversed.

The invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation view of an enclosed electric switch in accordance with the invention, the cover being open and partially broken away;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged view taken substantially on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view on reduced scale similar to FIG- URE 1 but showing the switch mounted in an inverted position and with the handle linkage reversed.

In the drawing, the invention is disclosed as embodied in an enclosed electric switch including an enclosure 10 having a switch unit indicated generally at 11 mounted on the back wall thereof. Any suitable switch unit may be utilized. For convenience I have shown a switch unit of the type disclosed in copending application Serial No. 857,384, filed December 4, 1959, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. The switch unit 11 includes three line terminals 12, three fuse terminals 13 and three load terminals 14, having fuses (only one shown) mounted therebetween respectively. The line terminals 12 are adapted to be connected and disconnected from the fuse terminals 13 by means of switching contacts carried by and operated by an oscillatable rotor-15 having one end projecting laterally from a side of the switch unit.

For the purpose of operating the rotor 15 between on and off positions, operating mechanism is provided carried by the side wall of the enclosure 10 and indicated generally at 16. Referring particularly to FIGURE 2, the operating mechanism 16 includes a manually operable member 17 which is pivotally supported on the side wall of the enclosure 10 by means of pivot pin 18. The operating member 17 includes an insulated operating handle portion 19 which is integral therewith and which is offset at 20 from the general plane of the member 17. The operating member 17 also includes a lower projection portion 21 having a pivotal engagement with the upper end of a compression type operating spring 22 which in turn has its other end fixedly supported on the bottom wall of the enclosure 10 at 23'. a

The travel of the operating member 17 about its pivot 18 is limited in a first direction by a stop pin '24 carried by the side wall of the enclosure 10 and in the opposite direction by a stop pin 25 also carried by the side wall of the enclosure 10. For the purpose of cushioning the shock of impact of the member 17, stop pins 24 and 25 are provided with spiral spring members 24 and 25' respectively. For the purpose of engaging and operating the rotor 15, a generally U-shaped bracket 26 is provided, which is pivotally supported upon the side wall of the enclosure 10 by means of pivot pin 27. The bracket 26 has a non-circular aperture 28 in the outer portion thereof. The bracket 26 also carries an integral extension 29 on the side thereof adjacent the side wall of the enclosure 10. For the purpose of operating the bracket 26 by means of the operating handle 19, a connecting link 30 is provided, which is pivotally supported on the operating member 17 by pivot pin 31 and on the bracket 26 by pivot pin 32. The link 30 is releasably held on the pin 3-1 by means of a retaining clip 33. .The end of the rotor 15 is received in the aperture 28 to be rotated upon rotation of the member 26. The apenture 2/8 is made non-symmetrical so that the rotor 15 may be received therein in only one pro-determined position. I V

In operation, as the operating member 17 is rotated between its extreme positions, indicated by the solid and dotted outlines, the bracket =26 is likewise rotated through a predetermined are about its pivot pin 27 by the link 30, to turn the rotor 15 between on and off positions. The compression spring 22 provides an overcenter action, which retains the operating member and therefore the switch unit, in each of its predetermined extreme positions.

For the purpose of reversing the relative rotation of the operating member 17 and the rotor 15, a second shouldered pin 34 is provided on the operating member 17. The pin 34 is positioned at a location on the opposite side of the center line extending between the pivot 32 of link 30 and the pivot 18 of the handle 17, from the pin 31. Reversal of the mechanism is accomplished by removing the retaining spring clip 33 from the pin 31, disconnecting the link 30 from the pin 31, and moving the operating member 17 from one extreme position to the other as indicated in dotted lines, without moving the rotor 15, and then connecting the connecting link 30 to the shouldered pin 34 by using the retaining spring clip 33. It will be observed that the switch rotor remains in the same position, while the handle has been reversed to its opposite extreme position. 7

With the operating member 17 reversed in this manner,

the switch unit may be mounted in an inverted position as indicated in FIGURE 3, thereby accommodating incoming line conductors entering the switch enclosure through the bottom wall. It will be observed, however, that because of the reversal of the connecting link 30, the upper position of the handle 19 still corresponds to the on position of the switch and the lower position of the handle still corresponds to the off position of the switch.

-It will be observed that there has been provided a simple operating mechanism fior enclosed electric switches which may be mounted and utilized in either of two relatively inverted positions, in either of which thernechanism may provide an upper position of the handle corresponding to on position of the switch and a lower position of the handle corresponding to off position of the switch. 7

Since many modifications of the invention will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is therefore intended by the appended claims to cover all such modifications as fall the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What-l claim "as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An electric switch comprising an enclosure having a back wall and at least one side wall perpendicular thereto, an electric switch unit supported in said enclosure on said back wall, and including an operating member oscillatably movable between two positions corresponding to on and off conditions of said switch unit respectively, operating mechanism llor operating said operating member comprising a first member pivotal'ly supported on said side wall of said enclosure, means connecting said first member to said switch unit operating member, a' manually operable member pivotally supported on said side wall of said enclosure at a point displaced from said pivot of said first member, said manually operable member being movable between first and second extreme positions about said pivot, a connecting link pivotally connected to 4 said first member at a first point eccentric to said pivot of said first member, and means for pivotally connecting the opposite end of said connecting link to said manually operable member selectively at either of two points thereon eccentric to the pivot of said manually operable member and located on opposite sides respectively of the line between said first point and the pivot of said manually operable member whereby when said link is connected at one of said points rotation of said manually operable member in a given direction produces rotation of said first member in a similar direction and when said link is connected at the other of said points, rotation of said manually operable member in a given direction produces rotation of said first member in the opposite direction.

2. An enclosed electric switch comprising an enclosure, an electric switch supported in said enclosure, operating mechanism for said switch comprising a switch operating member pivotally supported in said enclosure and having an operating connection with said switch, a manually operable member pivotally supported in said enclosure on a pivot spaced from the pivot of said switch operating member and movable between first and second extreme positions, a connecting link having a connection at one end with said switch operating member end having a connection at the other end with said manually operable member, said connecting link being disconnectable from 'one of said members and bodily rotatable about its connection with other of said members to permit reconnection of said link to said first member at a point on the opposite side of the line connecting the pivots of said members, whereby to permit connection of said switch operating member and said manually operable member in a first relation establishing. one of said extreme positions of said manually operable member as corresponding to on condition of said switch and in a second relation establishing the other of said extreme positions of said manually operable member as corresponding to said on position of said switch, selectively.

3. An enclosed electric switch comprising an enclosure, an electric switch supported insaid enclosure, operating mechanism for said switch comprising a switch operating member pivotal-1y supported in said enclosure and having an operating connection with said switch, a manually operable member pivotally supported in said enclosure on a pivot spaced from thepivot of said switch operating member and movable between first and second extreme positions, a connecting link having a connection at one end with said switch operating member at a first point thereof and having a connection at the other end with said manually operable member, said connecting link being disconnectable from said first point of connection with said manually operable member and rotatable bodily about said connection with said switch operating member to permit reconnection of said link to a second point ofisaid manually operablemember upon movement of said manually operable member, whereby to connect said switch operating member and said manually operable member in a first relation establishing one of said extreme positions of said manually operable member as corresponding to on condition of said switch and to permit movement of and reconnection of said members in a second relation establishing the other of said extreme positions of said manually operable member as corresponding to said on position of said switch.

2,646,488 Plate July 21, 1953 

